3/10/2010 @ 6:00PM

Technology's Richest Billionaires

Though the software visionary’s net worth rose $13 billion to a whopping $53 billion in the last year, he was ousted from the top of the money bin by Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who took the No. 1 spot on Forbes’ billionaire list this year, with a fortune of $53.5 billion.

Despite this coup, the top 10 richest tech billionaires saw their fortunes rise a collective $55.8 billion over the past year, helped by a surge in the value of technology stocks.

The biggest gainer besides Gates was Indian software czar Azim Premji, whose net worth jumped more than $11 billion to $17 billion. Premji is the chairman of
Wipro
, India’s third-largest software exporter, which reported net profits in the last two quarters, signaling a rebound for the U.S.-dependent outsourcing giant.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s net worth grew by $5.5 billion, as Oracle’s shares rocketed up 70% over the past 12 months.
Google
founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page also saw their fortunes rise by $5.5 billion since last year; each now has a net worth of $17.5 billion. While Google’s ad revenue from search continues to grow, the company has made forays into the smart phone market (with its Nexus One phone and the Android mobile operating system), the browser market (with Chrome) and social networking (with Google Buzz).

Forbes’ 2010 billionaires list also marks the return of the young tech billionaire. The world’s youngest billionaire, 25-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, returns after a hiatus last year, with a $4 billion net worth. Though the social network company is still private, recent transactions of its shares on the private equity exchange SecondMarket put the company’s value at upward of $15 billion.

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel also returns to the billionaires list thanks to Facebook’s rising fortunes. The 42-year-old, who cofounded PayPal (later purchased by eBay), was Facebook’s first outside investor. Thiel initially invested $500,000 in 2004. Another returnee: Marc Benioff. The stock of his software company
Salesforce.com
rose 30% over the past six months. The 45-year-old tech entrepreneur’s net worth is now $1.3 billion.

Asia’s answer to Zuckerberg, meanwhile, is Yoshikazu Tanaka of Japan, the world’s second-youngest self-made billionaire. His fortune comes from a social networking site called Gree. The 33-year-old is worth $1.4 billion and has broken into the list for the first time.

U.S. billionaire Pierre Omidyar’s fortune increased $1.6 billion to $5.2 billion, as shares of eBay, the company he founded and now chairs, rose 115% in the last year. The online auctioneer’s 2009 revenues were $8.7 billion and it had 84 million users.

Michael Dell’s net worth also rose $1.2 billion to $13.5 billion this year, though the turnaround at his company, computer maker
Dell
, isn’t quite happening yet. The company’s stock slipped nearly 10% in the past six months, and revenues fell 13% in the year ended January 2010. The increase in his net worth is tied to his significant investments outside of the PC maker.